Regardless of whether they are open-minded or have their own agendas, the preparations for the match between the Chinese and American teams are proceeding nervously.
——After all, time is the fairest thing. Counting from zero o'clock on the day after the end of the first game of the finals to the minute when the second game begins, the rotation of the earth gives the two teams exactly the same 68 hours.
After deducting the time spent eating and sleeping, less than half can be used for preparation before the game.
The American team has to run on the map, and those who compete in the team competition must continue to fine-tune their tactics. They also need to guess the Chinese team’s lineup and carry out targeted research and training;
The Chinese team, which will play an away game in the next game, can only repeatedly guess at the possible appearance plans and alternative maps of the American team, plan, modify, overturn, redo...
It's very similar to the neurotic Party A who revised the design draft seventeen or eight times a day.
Even with such pressure, no one from the Chinese team members or coaches complained.
The players who are scheduled to play discuss, run diagrams, practice together, discuss again, run diagrams, and practice together again over and over again;
The players who have been determined not to play, in addition to being a sparring partner for their teammates, spend all their time studying the details of their opponent's play style;
Even if the members of the information team keep muttering "This is fake news" and "This is rubbish", they still have to learn from pre-match reports such as "Captain America fights the AI version of Lord Grim, with a winning rate of 60%".
Compare, differentiate, and identify true information;
Even the children in the sparring group voluntarily turned off all chat tools and stopped reading comments and gossip on Weibo and forums.
In the end, what Ye Xiu and Yu Wenzhou needed to worry about was to calm the emotions of the team members and make them not be too nervous. Especially, in addition to individual training and team training, they should not endlessly train themselves.
——On how the team leader turned himself into a jokester...
Two days passed in a flash. The day before the last game of the finals, at 11 o'clock in the middle of the night on August 5, Yu Wenzhou sent all the team members back to their rooms to rest, locked the door of the training room himself, and logged into the training server to blast a few treacherous things.
Guy? He finally fell back on the bed? He forced himself to close his eyes and remained motionless.
...Can't sleep.
...Can't sleep.
Still can't sleep.
At 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, Yu Wenzhou, who had been counting his heartbeats for an hour, finally gave up the struggle, resigned himself to his fate, and stood up, heading towards the rooftop.
It's so late, on the roof? There won't be anyone else...
Yu Wenzhou stepped onto the top step of the stairs and carefully pushed open the rooftop door. He tried his best to control himself not to make a sound. The cold night wind in Zurich rushed in instantly. Before Yu Wenzhou had time to shiver, a thick, almost white smoke blew into his face.
Come.
Looking up, there were sparks flashing on the edge of the rooftop. It was obvious that someone had been smoking there for a long time.
Yu Wenzhou was stunned for a moment, then laughed dumbly.
Yes, he tossed and turned and couldn't sleep all night. How could Ye Xiu, who was carrying the entire national team, not be nervous?
Is Ye Xiu just like him? He tries his best to pretend as if nothing happened in front of others and appease the emotions of all the team members.
Where did his thoughts turn? Yu Wenzhou felt his shoulders relax instead. He walked slowly to the edge of the rooftop, deliberately taking a few steps downwind. He leaned on the balcony, half-turned around and stretched out his right hand to Ye Xiu who was looking at him:
"Give me one."
Ye Xiu knocked the cigarette case skillfully. Inside the dark black cigarette case with silver edges, a slender pure white cigarette jumped up slightly. He turned the box sideways and handed it to Yu Wenzhou:
(Click to see the details of the cigarettes Ye Xiu smokes)
"I bought it here. It smells very strong. - Do you smoke too?"
"I - know how to smoke." Yu Wenzhou didn't care about the brand. He blocked the night wind blowing from the lake with one hand and carefully lit a fire with the lighter that Ye Xiu handed over:
"Sometimes you have to socialize."
Ye Xiu stopped asking. Yu Wenzhou explained this unnecessarily and stopped talking. He turned to face the lake and took a deep breath from the lit cigarette.
The strong, mellow smoke with a burnt and bitter taste rushed straight into the throat.
If Ye Xiu hadn't warned him in advance, Yu Wenzhou would have almost choked and coughed on the spot. He quickly turned his head and blew out the smoke in his mouth, soothed his rebellious throat, stood up straight, and looked out side by side with Ye Xiu.
The lake at night.
Thanks to the regular schedule of professional players, they have never seen Lake Zurich late at night at this time.
Although the lake is right next to the hotel. Walk out from the restaurant on the first floor and cross the hundred-foot-wide lawn to the lakeshore. During normal lunch breaks or afternoon tea, everyone will relax by the lake...
At this time, all the rooms in the hotel have turned off the lights. Looking down from a distance, the lake in the distance is dark in color, and the lights on the other side two kilometers away are dim, intermittent and intermittent. The moon, which is more than half full, hangs in the sky, shining brightly.
On the lake, with the ripples of the water, bits and pieces were scattered in the center of the lake.
It was late at night and there was no sound. The two of them were standing on the rooftop of the building. Without concentrating hard, they could hear the soft sound of the lake water lapping against the embankment.
Occasionally, there was a splash, and a white cloud flew up on the water. But the white swan living in the lake was awakened by something, spread its wings and fluttered a few times, then quietly rested back and stopped moving.
Smoke filled the air around him. Ye Xiu was still smoking one after another. In the ashtray he brought in front of him, cigarette butts had already piled up into a small pile. Yu Wenzhou stood lost in thought for a while, then he followed the customs and raised the cigarette to his lips, lightly
Take a breath.
In the peripheral vision, the small red dot on the cigarette tip has been burning, occasionally flickering on and off, but it has not shortened much. The long smoke escapes from the lips, persisting for a few centimeters, rendering a small patch of light in the field of vision.
The pale white color was immediately blown away by the night wind.
Through the hazy smoke, you can see another small red dot beside you, extending forward at a much faster speed. It burns into a red line, stops, advances, goes out, and ignites again...
That was the sound of Ye Xiu smoking. Ye Xiu smoked very hard, often removing half of the cigarette at once, unlike Yu Wenzhou who always took a shallow puff and then exhaled slowly. Before Yu Wenzhou finished smoking, he
Here, two have been killed in succession.
Of course, considering that smoking is completely prohibited in public places in Zurich, and even the hotel they rented is completely smoke-free, Ye Xiu's smoking speed is really understandable.
The two of them stood side by side in silence, holding cigarettes in their mouths, watching the moon shadow soaking in the lake and the waves rippling. Occasionally, there was a splash of silver scales leaping up, piercing the center of the waves, and they returned to silence within a moment. The cold night wind blew on them, even though Yu Wenzhou had previously
Wearing team uniforms when we came up, I felt quite chilly at this time.
However, the anxiety that had permeated his whole body before and tortured him tossing and turning and unable to sleep, calmed down silently in the cool breeze and the gentle sound of water.
When the cigarette was almost finished, Yu Wenzhou stretched out his arm and put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray. Beside him, Ye Xiu also put down the cigarette butt, picked up the ashtray, turned around and walked downstairs.
Yu Wenzhou followed behind without saying a word. The two of them walked out of the stairs one after another. As far as they could see, every door was quietly closed. There was no light leaking under the door cracks. It was obvious that the contestants were either really sleeping or pretending.
To sleep, at least, I was already lying on the bed peacefully.
There was no sound as they walked on the soft carpet. The corridor was so quiet for a moment that only two people were breathing. The captain and manager of the national team looked at each other, each opened their own door and stepped in. The door was closed, and Yu Wenzhou threw himself on the ground.
On the bed, I fell into sleep as soon as I closed my eyes.